Not even fish were safe from the wind

Strong winds blew one of the pieces in Donald Lipski's F.I.S.H. installation to the ground.

One of the Fiberlgass fish hanging under Interstate 35 is tangled.

One of the sunfish's skin was blown off exposing a skeleton of lights.

Photo By Bob Owen/San Antonio Express-News

Balloons in front of a restaurant on Commerce St. are whipped by the wind as pedestrians make their way across the sidewalk. Monday, Feb. 25, 2013.

Photo By John Gonzalez

A large street lamp globe lies crashed on the ground outside Cadena-Reeves Justice Center, one of several lamps that broke downtown during Monday's high winds.

A man walks against high winds at Canyon Lake Monday afternoon.

Powerful winds sweeping across South-Central Texas on Monday were blamed for toppled trees, roofs ripped from homes, and even fiberglass fish knocked over on the River Walk's Museum Reach.

The gusts also knocked out power to more than 31,000 local homes, businesses and schools, including the Alamo Quarry shopping center and much of the area in and around Wonderland of the Americas mall at Interstate 10 and Loop 410.

Power was restored to most customers by Tuesday afternoon, though about 100 remained without electricity, CPS Energy's website showed.

Monday's strongest winds were measured about 11 a.m. in Hondo, when a gust peaked at 64 mph, the National Weather Service said. In San Antonio, gusts peaked at 54 mph.

The area's largest home insurer, State Farm, got “hundreds” of customer claims in the San Antonio area because of the high winds and flying debris, a spokeswoman said.

Among the windstorm's casualties: Several of the 25 fiberglass sunfish in Donald Lipski's “FISH” installation hanging from Interstate 35.

One broke off completely and fell into the San Antonio River. The wind snapped the fins off several other fish, San Antonio River Foundation officials said.

This isn't the first time wind has damaged the Museum Reach fish.

In 2010, two were damaged by Tropical Storm Hermine, when winds peaked at 60 mph. None of the fish fell, but an anchor on one came unhinged and another cracked at an anchor point.

North of the city, Canyon Lake Marina reported that several boats were damaged by the wind.